“Leave Jake alone.” Aurora waves at me with her good hand. “Stop by any time.”
Yeah, probably not going to happen.
“Ma, look what you did. You made him want to avoid us.”
“I did no such thing.” She glares at him as he tidies up around her.
I slip out the kitchen door before they can stop me. What was I thinking? I lean against the door as my cell phone rings. It’s Emily. My heart leaps into my throat. There’s no way she knows we were talking about her. About us. About us making a baby.
My hands sweat as I straighten, swipe the screen, and shove off the wall. “Hello?”
“Hey, I was just checking to see if Mom was doing okay…. And that everything there was alright.”
“She’s fine. Kaleb just showed up.”
“Thank God.”
The relief in her voice makes my spine stiffen. First, she decides I became a police officer because I need control. Now, she sounds like she’s been holding her breath the entire time I’ve been here.
Like I couldn’t handle sitting with her mom for a couple of hours without screwing it up.
A car door slams somewhere down the street. A dog starts barking, shattering the quiet. I grind my teeth. “Glad he could step in and take over.”
“That’s not what I–”
“Relax, Emily. Your mom is safe. Everything is under control.” The words taste bitter as I say them.
I tap my finger on the screen, ending the call before she can say anything else and power the phone down.
Might as well go home. Where I should’ve stayed in the first place.
Ten Minutes Later
I can’t believe she doesn’t trust me to watch her mom for a few hours. That I became a police officer because I have control issues. Her lack of understanding of who I am hurts more than I expected.
The conversation loop in my head as I pull into the gas station, gravel crunching under my tires. Control people. Like that’s what this is. Like that’s all I am.
I shove the gear shifter into park harder than I mean to and sit there for a second, gripping the steering wheel.
The air smells like gasoline and dust. There are only a couple of other vehicles at the gas station which is still odd after years in the city. I drag a hand down my face and push the door open, stepping out into the wash of fluorescent light.
I swipe my card and start the pump, my jaw still tight. Her voice fills my head again. ‘Thank God.’ When I told her that Kaleb showed up, she said, ‘Thank God.’ Like I was someone she didn’t trust.
The pump clicks as I pull it free.
“Didn’t think you’d come back.”
My grip tightens instantly but I don’t turn right away. I know that voice. Slowly, I glance over my shoulder.
Chad Whitlock leans against the pump behind me like he’s got nowhere else to be. Same lazy posture. Same look like the world owes him something.
“Chad.”
He pushes off the pump and takes a few slow steps closer, hands in his pockets.
“No uniform tonight?” His gaze rakes over me. “Almost didn’t recognize you without the badge.”
“Didn’t think I needed it to get gas.”
